I promised more the nwanyi spirit and the woman who bent blood excerpts and here it is!
Suki, Toph, and Katara are a team of bounty hunters known as The Runaways in this AU and they were “recruited” by the mysterious White Lotus and offered work with them. Iroh makes them an offer they can’t refuse…
(NSFW: sweary words)
Suki’s smirk remained, plastered into place, but she tilted her head towards her friends and pitched her voice low. ‘The old man’s job offer. Thoughts?’
‘Oh, we’re taking the veiled threats as a serious offer, are we?’ Katara drawled around a mouthful of food. The spoon rubbed against her bandages which in turn were rubbing against her wound but despite the discomfort, the hot meal was doing wonders for her spirits.
‘I take all and every opportunity seriously, you know that.’
‘You really believe the White Lotus, a group whose members we’ve personally hunted down and delivered to the authorities more than once, is interesting in partnering up?’
Suki studied her carefully from behind the mask she wore. ‘I take it you don’t.’
‘Hm, you think?’
Toph poked at her dinner, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. ‘They’re alright,’ she muttered. ‘Silvertongue and Jun and the others we met on the road. They’re cool.’
‘Alright, are they?’ Katara asked stiffly. ‘The people who essentially forced us to come meet their boss because he had a humble offer for us?’ She lowered her voice when Suki widened her eyes in warning. Katara leaned in closer. ‘They’re firebenders, Toph. Zuko definitely is, his uncle and cousin might be too. We don’t know how many more there could be. I don’t trust them.’
‘Well none of us trusts them,’ Toph said as though Katara had pointed out that two badgermoles plus two badgermoles equals a whole lot of trouble. ‘No one trusts anyone in this business, we all know that.’
‘You trust Jun,’ Katara accused in a hushed tone.
Toph frowned, her lip popping free of her teeth. ‘I want to fuck Jun, I don’t trust her, Madame Fussy Britches. Big difference.’
Suki cleared her throat, moving her stir fry from one side of her bowl to the other. ‘I want to take him up on it. Iroh. I think we should take it.’
‘Are you insan—’
Toph elbowed Katara so hard in her ribs that she nearly spat her rice halfway across the table. ‘You sure are light on your feet, fire boy,’ Toph acknowledged, turning to face Zuko. The man stood behind them, his eyes narrowed and calculating. ‘Sneaky little firebender, aren’t you?’
‘Only because you can’t see, Toph,’ Suki said, grinning up at Zuko. ‘He’s actually quite tall. Impressive ninja skills for a man of your… size.’
Zuko went from irate to a blushing mess in little under ten seconds. ‘I’m not— That’s not even—’ he spluttered, dropping his bowl onto the table beside Katara. ‘The waterbender left her herbs at the serving table!’
Katara arched a brow, still rubbing her side. Suki always knew how to exploit a person’s weakness to her advantage; Katara would have high fived her success if the firebender hadn’t been spluttering so close to them.
Instead, she glanced at Zuko. ‘How thoughtful,’ she simpered. Then, after a meaningful look from Suki, begrudgingly added, ‘Thank you.’
The firebender, his cheeks red as flames, slammed down a bubbling cup of tea with the now familiar scent of comfrey, centella, Hei Bai’s wort, and marigold. ‘Don’t mention it.’
Katara lifted the cup and swilled the liquid around. ‘You’ve definitely overcooked the herbs.’
But the firebender bent over his food and ate without any sign of having heard her.
Toph was snickering into her own bowl— something about touchy firebenders— but Suki took pity on him. ‘So, Zuko,’ she began, nibbling at a piece of broccoli. ‘How did the White Lotus end up running a boarding house?’
The firebender chewed awhile, glaring straight ahead even as he answered. ‘The White Lotus is more than you think it is. We provide shelter to those who need it. This boarding house is for wives who need a safe place from dishonourable husbands, refugees who need somewhere to stay while the state allocates them a permanent home, students who can’t afford to live at the university.’ Zuko jabbed his finger across the table, gesturing to the far side of the room. ‘See that old guy in the shabby robes? He’s a cabbage merchant whose never sold enough cabbages to afford a place to live. Used to live under his cabbage cart before someone smashed it. So now he lives here.’
‘For free?’ Toph asked.
Zuko shrugged. ‘Sometimes.’
‘How can your uncle possibly afford to house people for free?’ Katara demanded, before a wry smile claimed her face. ‘Oh, that’s right. His hands aren’t as clean as all that. He’s like us. Trades lives for money.’
‘My uncle does not trade lives for money,’ the firebender snarled with such ferocity that a prickle of trepidation ghosted its way down Katara’s spine. ‘You don’t know anything about us, waterbender.’
WARNING very graphic visual of Lu-Tens last moments. the footage shows, how prince Lu-Ten son of Iroh second in line. has to fight off on his own, two small hatchlings, both enraged by their pray being stolen. and you can clearly see, how his father, the general, dragon of the west crown prince Iroh, JUST SITS ON THE SIDELINES SIPPING HIS TEA AND LAUGHING HIS BELLY OF!
I hate this, can I just give up on mermay and go back to doing other art please
Every time I try and motivate myself I just… I don’t like what comes out. I want to make other art. I can post the 3 I made though. They’re nothing special. But there’s 3 of them
These are the 3 I did. The first was Lu Ten and I don’t know if it’s real or not someone asked if that was Lu Ten Koh stole the face of but if it was that would explain a lot about Iroh’s story. Second is Mai, third is Teo. I was originally going to do it sort of like a journal, but I don’t have enough to to fill the page on them. I mean I do, but I don’t think I could do this for 30 days straight.
I wonder if the soldier responsible for lu ten’s death is a really big deal in the earth kingdom army for taking out the prince of the fire nation and consequently getting the dragon of the west to leave ba sing se. like, I’ve never been in the military, but I’m assuming you get a pretty big shiny medal for doing that, right?? well, I wonder if that guy would ever walk into the tea shop that allegedly serves the best tea in the city, and if iroh, knowing exactly who he is, calmly pours him a cup.
1. Meanwhile, back in the Fire Nation, or at least on a specific ship headed to the Fire Nation, with the Fire Nation prince and princess onboard, a certain Dragon of the West whiles away the hours, in a dark, and dank, brig. His nephew sided with Azula, and he has to grieve about that, to deal with the swirl of misery and disappointment, and even that sense of failure, but more than that, he is afraid. He is so deeply afraid of what Zuko might tell his sister and father about Lu Ten. And even if he doesn’t, where is Lu Ten? Is he on his own? He’s far from ready for that. What if he gets hurt? What if he is found? For so long, Iroh believed his son was dead. Now he knows he is alive, and in danger.
2. Zuko has told Azula absolutely nothing about Lu Ten. And no, he has no intention of examining why. For all he desperately wants to believe Azula, to go home and be his father’s son again, deep down, he’s afraid. He knows what his family is capable of, even if he can’t admit it to himself. When he starts to visit his uncle, when he tries to talk to him, but Itoh won’t answer him, this is one of the things he tells him, soft, almost whispering it, so no one else can hear.
3. Zuko doesn’t talk about the brainwashing. He doesn’t want anybody to know. But Azula already does know. The Dai Li told her about brainwashing her brother, and this is information she plans to make use of. Azula is delighted with the Dai Li. After they have done their job securing Ba Sing Se for her, she packs a contingent of them onto a ship and sends them to the Fire Nation palace. They arrive not long after Azula and Zuko do. Every so often, Zuko catches sight of one, his green robes flapping, and can’t breathe.
4. But of course, Azula would never tell Mai and Ty Lee about such things, and neither would Zuko.
5. And on another ship, sailing for the Fire Nation, Lu Ten remembers everything. He remembers being Lu Ten, at least. The fog of his captivity in Ba Sing Se is another thing entirely. And he knows he is among enemies of the Fire Nation. So he concludes the only reasonable thing: he is a captive. And captives have a duty to escape.
This flashback in ATLA, Azulon becoming enraged with Ozai for disrespecting Iroh and the recently deceased Lu Ten, is usually interpreted as Azulon then ordering Ozai to kill Zuko. I disagree with this for two reasons.
1: We don’t actually hear Azulon say that, it’s only referred to by Azula (who was around seven or eight at the time and might have misunderstood what she heard) and by Ozai, years later, when he is taunting Zuko on the Day of Black Sun. Neither Azula nor Ozai are reliable narrators.
2: Azulon is, at the time of this flashback, the ruler of the Fire Nation who has just lost one of his only two grandsons and heirs. What kind of monarch loses one heir and then turns around and demands the death of another, especially when losing Zuko would hardly bother Ozai?
My interpretation of this situation is Azulon ordered Ozai to give Zuko into Iroh’s care, replacing Lu Ten as Iroh’s heir, neatly removing any argument Ozai had about Iroh’s line having ended. Ozai of course would never accept this. He either lied to Ursa, claiming Azulon wished Zuko dead, or outright told his wife he’d kill Zuko before seeing him get ahead of him in the line of succession, thus manipulating Ursa to help him assassinate Azulon. I think this theory makes far more logical sense than ‘Azulon ordered the murder of his nine-year-old grandson’.
